Interview
From emerging talents to today's brightest stars, we interview musicians from around the globe.
Matt Marantz: About Music, Money and Mouthpieces
by Dean Nardi
Back in ancient times, when people would buy actual magazines with paper and print and pictures and ads, some of the music publications would offer companion CD compilations. You could always find two or three tracks that stood out and maybe enticed you to check out an artist's recorded output. That is how I came across the name of Matt Marantz. It is always strangely refreshing to find or hear of an artist whose tone is as smooth as gravy ...
Continue ReadingMary Halvorson: About the Ghosts in the Guitar
by Dean Nardi
No, guitarheads, recently Mary Halvorson has been inspired to put out records with her Amaryllis sextet more so than some jaggedy, lyrical shredding, but these are pretty darn good jazz records from a tight ensemble consisting of Adam O'Farrill (trumpet), Jacob Garchik (trombone), Patricia Brennan (vibraphone) and a rhythm section of Nick Dunston (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums). Saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins (alto) and Brian Settles (tenor) join the aforementioned party of six on half the tracks of Halvorson's About Ghosts album, ...
Continue ReadingSivan Arbel: Oneness is the Hopefullest Number
by Dean Nardi
Israeli vocalist and songwriter Sivan Arbel has a unique composition technique, which she calls “squeezing the sponge." It involves absorbing diverse influences and transforming them into her own original and eclectic musical language. Driven by a desire to bring healing and connection through her music, Arbel's December 2024 release on Adhyâropa Records, Oneness, recorded at Kaleidoscope Sound in New Jersey, brings together the diverse elements of Moroccan grooves, Brazilian sounds, classical Indian music and her Israeli Middle Eastern roots. The ...
Continue ReadingBryan Stovell: The Secrets Of Viral Jazz
by Kerilie McDowall
Nanaimo, BC's multi-award-winning and highly esteemed Bryan Stovell has been mentoring and developing the talent of Canada's greatest jazz musicians for decades. Stovell's school bands have won numerous provincial and national awards, and his groups have performed in Japan, Europe, the United States, and every major city in Canada. Some of Stovell's former Nanaimo Musicians Association band members and students include the international elite of Canada's jazz world, like past Nanaimo residents and multi-JUNO winners Ingrid Jensen and ...
Continue ReadingTessa Souter: Singing Her Way to Happiness
by Dean Nardi
The English/Trinidadian artist is a bona fide treasure--consummate stage presence, captivating singer, accomplished songwriter. Arriving in New York via San Francisco in 1997, Souter won a scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music in 1999 but left after one semester to study privately with Mark Murphy, who mentored her for four years in return for booking his workshops, and who remained a lifelong friend. “As a full-time features journalist for the international press, it was very hard to fit in ...
Continue ReadingAmaury Faye: A French Jazz Composer Returns To The Source
by Frank Housh
Amaury Faye was a child in Toulouse when he began his unlikely love affair with American jazz. A piano teacher exposed him to ragtime which led to Art Tatum, which led him to Ahmad Jamal and the great jazz trios. He released trio recordings in 2016, 2017, and 2018 and a solo album, Buran (L'Esprit du Piano, 2019) followed by Arise (Suite) (Hypnote Records, 2023). In her review of Amaury Faye: Arise (Suite), Jane Kozhevnikova wrote: “In Arise, ...
Continue ReadingLara Somogyi: Finding Her Muse in the Desert
by Dean Nardi
When one is making a pilgrimage to Joshua Tree in California--even by Zoom call--you must be careful about protecting your eyes from the blinding sunlight and keep your cap on to cover your brain. Listening to the music of Lara Somogyi from her album désert (Mercury KX 2025), one's brain is constantly heated by thoughts of striking it rich musically, thoughts that do not fade much with the late afternoon sun going down over the horizon. You may need some ...
Continue ReadingJohn Hadfield: An Open Concept
by Katchie Cartwright
John Hadfield's sound is instantly recognizable, due in part to his unique drum kit, which reflects the musics he has studied and with which he continues to engage. Hadfield's formal degrees are in jazz (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) and Western classical music (University of Missouri, Kansas City), but he also studied frame drumming and world percussion extensively with Jamey Haddad at The New School in New York. He trained in South Asian classical percussion with Ganesh Kumar and Subash ...
Continue ReadingSergio Armaroli: The Musical Omnivore
by Mark Corroto
Sergio Armaroli is an Italian composer, percussionist, vibraphonist, teacher and visual artist whose music can be found on multiple labels including ezz-thetics, Leo Records, Dodicilune, Ictus Records and Da Vinci Classics. His 2025 releases include Deconstructing Ayler In The Universe (Dodicilune), And I Entered Into Sleep (Die Schachtel), and the ezz-thetics discs Introducing A Very Heavy Person First Visit, Follow A Very Heavy Person First Visit, At Sotto Il Mare First Visit and The Art Of Sound(s). Because ...
Continue ReadingMeet Guitarist Adam Levy
by Mike Brannon
This article first appeared on All About Jazz in March 2002. Even if you have listened to jazz for a while, you might not have heard of Adam Levy, but you likely will, either through his higher profile efforts, including work with Tracy Chapman, Joey Baron, Sexmob, John Zorn, and now the latest Blue Note sensation, singer/pianist Norah Jones. Though Bill Frisell, Brian Blade, and Kenny Wollesen, along with Levy, joined the Dallas native on her first major ...
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